Myself, I did manage to poke my head in there for a short while.
The most noticeable thing I found in questing is the amount of damage I took, plus my waddy is eating loads of power even on landscape mobs.

I went into the fortress of Durthang, S of Undun. Found myself knee deep in enemy orcs, Uruks and sorcerers. I acctually had to use some self heals and power restore just fighting normal mobs, ranging between 20k - 40k morale. In Moria, just fighting 3-4 mobs in a row in fast order, I was on zero power. That is something not even my lvl 50 waddy has problems with. There it is longer boss fights I struggle.
Anyway, made my way to the tippy top of the fortress and found a signature boss with 2 normal friends. Mormally questing with waddy I kinda fight but mind starts to wonder off, what to do next, looking at the surroundings, checking bags, pending loot and so on. Not really paying attention to the fight it self, since there's no need to.
Started pretty similar, shouting my aoe gambits. Then suddenly my morale bar was really low, NS popped and I had to resort to Preserverance gambit line for a while to keep my self alive.

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ScreenShot00031.jpg (50 KiB) Viewed 1973 times

Fight only lasted a minute but I managed to take 104k damage. Not really used to that. last I can remember this sort of bump in damage is W Rohan where after a while the mobs really start to hurt.
I don't mind the increase in damage, just feels bit odd when I'm used to how it is in lvl 105 areas on live.
Bit sceptical how classes with crappy self heals and/or with long cooldowns will manage though. Some of it can probably be negated with high damage output, faster they die the less damage you take.

I did get to loot one of those new chests as a reward.

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ScreenShot00028.jpg (77.3 KiB) Viewed 1973 times

And I got this as reward

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ScreenShot00029.jpg (63.87 KiB) Viewed 1973 times

If you notice the +4 light, that is something that occur on pretty much all new items. From crafted weapons to armour and jewelry. Lowest I found was +2 and highest +10.
This is used to counter the shadow debuff we get in Mordor, which can stack up to tier 10. -5% in inc heal and outg damage, and a +10% in inc damage per tier. Max would then be -50% heals and damage and +100% damage taken.
Assuming there will also be blue, and possibly gold gear, coming they will probably have higher light buff per item

So, I assume, and looking at the gear stats and new relics, it probably is. Moria will be similar to W Rohan where gear and damage had a huge jump.
And by looking at the amount of crit defence, resistance and finesse that are on relics and gear if feels safe to assume we need a whole bunch more of that compared to now.

Here's some crafted weapons. The crit version don't exist yet.

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ScreenShot00035.jpg (185 KiB) Viewed 1973 times

Now, the stats are probably not finalized. But could serve as a pointer to where things are heading. I did find some LI relics you can barter for.

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ScreenShot00021.jpg (258.71 KiB) Viewed 1973 times

Didn't find any at the relic master and new ones where tucked into current tier 10, but that could change ofc.

I did also find light healing armour pieces at the barter vendor. It had outgoing healing instead of tact master and such. Could be a fun addition of choices.

Thought I would post something now that Mordor expansion is set for launch.

Gear
Don't worry too much about what you have now, first quest gear you get from new area will probably be better anyway.
Best current gear will help somewhat at the start, but it's not worth the time if you don't already have it.
If you want to do some changes, my suggestion is to focus on finesse and defenses, bit of morale could help some too if you fancy it.

Regarding those armour sets some have used, for example Orthanc for cappy and Erebor for hunter. They won't work anymore as there's a limit. Armour lvl + 15, after that they can't be used.

They have also removed the set bonuses from Pelennor armour, those obtained after expansion goes live.

When it comes to numbers, take the current numbers for maxing out crit rating, mits and such and multiply by 3. That will get you in the ball park for what the numbers are at lvl 115.

If you start to struggle alot doing damage when you reach lvl 110 or so, get some more finesse. That will help much more than any mastery. For physical damage I suggest somewhere around 20K-25K. tactical can go bit less.
And focus on defenses before mastery to survive. Mits, crit defense and resistance.

I put some essences in kin chest for people to use if you are really struggling. I suggest try first before you empty the storage though.
If you need gear, just ask. There wasn't enough room for me to put in crafted armour and bling, but happy to make some if you ask. The easily crafted Anorien essence armour and jewelry will do nicely, it's just to get through the questing.
There's also the skirm camp where you can get pretty cheap T7 major essences.

Racial traits
Those that give plus will, might and so on now increase bit more with level. At 105 they are now +99 instead.

Virtues
Virtues got a bump at rank 11 and above. So if you are like me and do deeds and stuff, even at lower level you will get great benefits.
Picture to show some of the commonly used, and some bit lower to show how they increase even there.

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ScreenShot00046.jpg (289.32 KiB) Viewed 1762 times

Deeds
Sadly many of the deeds in the expansion don't seem to give virtues or Lotro Points.

Essences
There are new essences but the new gear don't focus that much on essences and some don't even have slots for it.
When you look at numbers and compare with what you have now, also factor in if they have that new Light buff on them. That will make up for lots, seeing even 10 shadow reduce your damage with 5% and max rank of 100 will reduce your damage by 50%.
Having more Light than there is Shadow won't be a benefit.

One of the mobs was kind enough to drop a low tier essence, just to give an idea about the numbers

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ScreenShot00049.jpg (16.25 KiB) Viewed 1762 times

To do First
I highly recommend to get the item for deconstructing some of the loot first of as you enter the new area. And keep it in your bag. If you accidentally discard it you can buy a new one, they're not expensive.

These two fellas are in the first camp as you enter, also a stable master there.
Talk to Master Smith - purchase the "Flame.." thingy and a recipe from the Elf-Smith, do the following quests and you are set.

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ScreenShot00047.jpg (161.94 KiB) Viewed 1762 times

Difficulty
Well, it isn't a walk in the park anymore. People need to look up their cc skills, bubbles and all that again.
They have reduced the damage from mobs lvl 106-109. Then it's a steep hill from there to 115.

I tried with my Minstrel this time, not the best DPS's er but never had any issues before, even with multiple enemies. Piercing Cry - Call to Fate - ballad = dead
Not so much anymore...

I aggroed 1 signature 100k uruk and got a normal 40k ranged as a bonus. Had to use fear, bubble, self heals and this is what I looked like after I managed to kill both. And it was just beyond the Black Gate, not even in a highly dangerous area. Even in DPS gear I have 40% mits, 40% resistance, 40% crit defense. And they hurt, bad...

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ScreenShot00048_small1.jpg (405.36 KiB) Viewed 1762 times

So my advice is to plan your attacks carefully, use what skills you have. Even those odd ones you forgot was a skill, like CC!!

Cord finally showed of bit of the scenery for the new area in his latest stream. As per usual, I think the world builder have done an amazing job. It starts around minute 11.